"Yes, Miss Adams," said Jimmy, opening a text book.
Eve closed the door and looked back at Adam, a frown forming on his face as well.
"Well, lead on, Doctor," commanded Eve.
"Right," said Adam, his smile returning. "This way-"
Adam dropped to the floor, having tripped over something familiar. He popped up clutching his dismembered arm.
"I'm okay!" insisted Adam.
"And throw that away before it hurts someone," she instructed as she headed down the hallway.
Adam scoffed as he followed. "What harm could a little arm do?"
4
Harmed Guards
Days ago, he had been Doctor Adam Townsend's right hand man. Well, not a man, just his right hand. Through no fault of his own he'd been named "Lefty".
Only a few days old and already he'd been mutilated, crushed, burned and blown to bits, but somehow he'd survived. Of course, one could only presume it was a "he", as it now moved of its own volition among the shadows of undergrowth alongside the road. Bits of dark rock jutted from its flesh. "Shadow Rock" the Doctor had called it, and now it grew from the back of the crawling hand like little black thorns.
Lefty scurried through the underbrush, plotting the evil deeds that dismembered arms plot while scurrying through assorted underbrush.
A few feet away stood a small box that was housing a soldier, reclining in a chair. His feet were propped on the booth window sill, and his helmet was labeled "MP2" and resting over his eyes. It was a guard station, with a long striped blockade to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering Base Atom, only it seemed the guard contained within was more concerned with napping than guarding.
A second soldier paced outside, eager to protect and serve. His rifle was hoisted on his shoulder and his "MP23" helmet was properly stationed on his head, level and at attention.
"I'm gonna' tell you one more time," said MP2 from under his helmet. "You shouldn't be out there. If I've learned one thing in my tenure here it's never, no matter what, never leave the sanctity of the booth."
The other guard didn't listen. He looked curiously at the underbrush on the other side of the road. Something was moving.
The curious MP drew his rifle and approached the bushes.
"I can hear you not listening," remarked the napping guard.
The other continued to poke the nose of his rifle into the brush.
"Twenty-three, whatever you're thinking, you best stop," he advised, still not looking up from his siesta.
The curious MP looked over his shoulder at his snoozing counterpart, then back into the bushes, pulling aside branches to get a better look at whatever was inside. This is what Lefty had been waiting for.
The crawling arm leaped from the ground and wrapped its decaying fingers around the guard's neck!
He gasped for air and words, but nothing escaped his lungs to cross his larynx and form sounds.
The thorns jutting from Lefty's skin began to grown, and the guards fight began to wane. He seemed to suddenly surrender.
"Look," said MP2, tipping his helmet back into position and grabbing a nearby comic book entitled Tales of The Horrific!, "The rules is clear, you leave the booth, bad things happen. Like right here," he opened the comic and slapped the inside page.
"Body Snatchers, now that ain't no way to go! It's a one way street! Ain't no coming back. So if I come out there and they snatch me up, just shoot me. Shoot me right in the face!" he yelled, popping up to look out the open booth window.
MP23 was standing in the middle of the road. His eyes were sunken and dark. His body limp, barely standing, and his rifle was aimed right at the booth.
"Right," said MP2 in a quiet tone. "Shoulda' figured."
Lefty was clutching the guard's ankle, and as he squeezed, the thorns grew wider, large bumps of Shadow Rock now covering the back of its hand. That seemed to give the puppeted MP more strength, as he then stood up straight, dark circles now completely concealing his eyes, and he fired the rifle at the booth!
The previously snoozing MP could only close his eyes and clutch his comic tightly.
The rifle clicked dry, its shells spent.
MP2 opened one eye and looked around. A pair of holes were in the wall behind him, but he was unharmed!
"Y'see?!" He smiled. "Don't be no hero. Trust in the sanctity of the booth!"
Lefty twisted his puppeted slave's foot and MP23 clutched the rifle like a club and charged at the booth!
"Sorry, chief," said MP2, grabbing his rifle. "Like I said, ain't no coming back."
A rifle shot took the zombie down, and the lifeless body of MP23 collapsed onto the pavement.
The guard in the booth nodded to himself at a job well done.
MP23's eyes opened and he staggered to his feet, a full-fledged human again.
"I'll be a monkey's uncle," said the guard in the booth, tipping his helmet back. "Guess the book was wrong. You're gonna' be alright!"
MP23 clutched his shoulder. That wasn't strawberry preserves, it was a fatal wound! He collapsed, lifeless on the concrete.
"Right," said MP2 shyly. He put his rifle down and scratched his head.
He noticed a motionless Lefty lying on its back, fingers stiffly in the air.
"What do you suppose…?” he began, opening the half door beneath the window and setting one foot out on the road.
He paused and looked at the one rule of his he'd just broken.
"Wait…"
But it was too late. As he looked up, Lefty had already flipped back to walking on his fingers, and squatted at the knuckles.
"Oh dang…" said MP2, as he backed up and slammed the half door shut.
Lefty leaped through the open window of the booth.
A struggle could be heard all around, but there were no other guards to come to the rescue.
The booth fell silent.
5
Gating There is Half the Fun
Adam and Eve zipped past grass and trees in an old Army Jeep.
"I told myself I wouldn't ask," said Eve, taking a deep breath, "But where did you get this jeep, anyhow?"
"Oh, the base," explained Adam. "It's covered with them!"
"Wait, they just let you take it?" asked Eve, worried the local military base might be overrun with the same level of incompetence as the town Doctor. "What if you were to drive off with a tank?"
“Don't be ridiculous," laughed Adam. "They're way too hard to parallel park."
She tried not to picture Adam in a tank, but she was pretty sure there was some history of destruction that had been caused by Adam, tank treads and a fouled parking job.
She let out a long sigh. Eve anticipated impending disappointment. She had a feeling that the local military base was not going to be up to her standards, or perhaps any standards at all.
She froze. Up ahead was a veterans' cemetery, precisely laid out with uniform crosses marking the departed, just like the Town’s cemetery that housed almost sixty of her fellow agents.
"Another cemetery?" she asked, not meaning to say it aloud.
"Yeah," sighed Adam. "That was one bad day."
Eve looked over the dozens of graves.
"Wait… Day?" Her mind started reeling with possibilities. "All of those graves are from one day?"
"Yup, well, most of them anyway,” affirmed Adam.
"What happened?" asked Eve.
"Let's just say we don't step on ants anymore,” said Adam, shaking of a chill of disgust.
Just as Eve tried to form a more investigative question, the jeep popped up in the air as it hit an unexpected speed bump.
"Don't remember a speed bump here," said Adam, stopping the vehicle.
As Eve leaned over the side she could see MP23's helmet.
"Adam, I don't think that was a…” She looked up and stopped. The jeep had parked right next to the guard station. MP2 was standing just outside the vehicle, dark circles around his
eyes and swaying lifelessly in the breeze.
"Ah! Eve, let me introduce you to MP2" smiled Adam, oblivious to the guard's zombified state.
"Adam, that's not his name, that's his-"
"Sure it is, why else would he put it on his helmet?" insisted Adam.
"Either way, I don't think that's the man you knew as MP2 anymore," explained Eve, waving at the guard to see if she could get any response at all.
"What do you mean?" asked Adam, clearly not following.
"Don't you think he looks a little odd to you?" Eve gestured towards his posture and face.
"I admit, he has a bit of an unfortunate nose, well face, but even monstrosities like MP2, here, deserve to be treated as people. I mean we can't all be as perfect as Doctor Adam Townsend! Believe me, I looked into it," said Adam, grimacing and looking inward. "Yes, sadly the Adamification of America Project had to be put on hold."
MP2's hands shook as they reached eagerly towards Adam's neck.
Adam looked at the hands then the guard.
"Oh, I get it," said Adam. "You probably need my pass. I believe it's in the glove box. 'Scuse me Eve…"
Eve set her forehead in her hand, realizing Adam was never going to notice the guard's strange appearance.
Adam reached across her into the glove box. He pulled out one gun, then another, setting both on the dash.
The MP found his own gun and slowly raised it towards the doctor.
"Where is that pass?" fumbled Adam.
"Adam, I really don't think we need that pass"
"Nonsense, it's a great picture of me, you really should see it!"
"I don't have time for this," said Eve. She slid up in the seat and kicked the guard in the head, sending the MP and his gun spinning back into the roadblock booth.
As the MP's foot flew in the air, Lefty was kicked free, landing on the road in front of them.
Eve watched as the hand tried to roll back onto its fingers, suddenly realizing the hand she'd seen kill a deputy the week prior was still alive and clearly up to no good.
"There it is!" exclaimed Adam, pulling his pass out of the compartment. "I wasn't lying about that picture, was I? Why would I ever put you in the glovebox, you should be out for all the world to see!"
He clipped the pass onto his lab coat pocket and turned back towards the booth. "Here you go MP2!”
But MP2 was nowhere to be seen, having been knocked unconscious into the booth.
“Where'd he go? No worries…" shrugged Adam as he reached inside the booth and blindly fumbling for a button. He found something that moved, then the gate lifted into the air.
"There," he smiled
"That's secure," worried Eve.
As Adam pulled forward, Eve nudged his elbow, causing the tires to roll over Lefty.
She smiled. That ought to put an end to the menacing hand.
As they drove away, MP2 sat up, now back to normal.
"What happened?" he asked no one. As he rubbed his head he noticed the corpse of MP23.
He stared at the body for a good while, considering a number of options, all of which seemed like work.
"Well I guess that's lunch," he said and slid back into the booth, pulling out a sandwich and his comic book, safely locked in his guard booth once again.
6
Generally Disturbed
As they drove past barracks, motor patrol and aircraft hangars, the little jeep approached a large brick building where a hardened military man was apparently waiting for them.
Adam parked the jeep in the middle of a clearing and hopped out.
"Ah, General!" Adam shouted, extending his one hand to the stout old man with a hardened glare.
"Doc," said the General through his teeth who were busy grinding on a pipe. He extended his right hand to Adam’s left.
As Eve exited the jeep, she watched on as both men stared at the incompatible hands for a moment, then resigned and lowered their arms, apparently incapable of solving the puzzle of how a right and a left hand can shake.
"Whatcha' up to?" asked Adam.
Testin' missiles!" No sooner had the General said the words than the jeep they had just exited exploded in a fiery mess of metal shrapnel!
Eve had instinctively ducked behind a crate of boxed equipment nearby, while Adam and the General merely basked in the warmth of the blast.
"They work!" nodded the General as a tire impaled into the corrugated metal of the wall behind them!
"The new Mortar Shell Tactical Three Thousand?" asked Adam.
"The same," said the General as he signed a clipboard presented to him by a withered old soldier in thick glasses.
Eve looked at the tire and the remains of the jeep in a flurry of surprise and anger.
"You're testing live missiles in the middle of the base?! Don't you have unpopulated areas, fields a mile away you could test on?!" She scolded.
"Yeah. But I'm not going to walk all the way over there," explained the General.
"That's what the jeeps are for!" shouted Eve.
"Not anymore,” said the General, nodding to the debris in front of them.
"Man’s got a point, Eve," reinforced Adam. "So how goes the fight, General?”
“Oh you know, it ain’t all fun and games. Always gotta’ keep one eye out for commies,” said the General, scanning the horizon.
"Commies? Here?" Asked Eve
"You can never be too sure. They could be anywhere, anytime. Take that guy for example," said the General, pulling out his pistol and shooting a nearby soldier in the leg.
The soldier dropped in agony and was immediately picked up by two soldiers carrying a gurney and wearing red crosses on their helmets.
"General!" screamed Eve, desperately fighting the urge to strike him. "He was a soldier, he wasn’t a commie'!"
"Darn right, and he never will be!" smiled the old dog of war.
Eve realized this was a lost cause. She just wanted to put some distance between herself and the General before she did something she'd regret.
"General, it's been, well, horrific," said Eve grabbing Adam's arm.
"Thank you, ma'am,” said the General.
"The lab, Adam," she insisted.
"Right this way," said Adam directing her into the brick building.
The soldier with the clipboard now offered the General a brown paper lunch bag. He adjusted his coke bottle glasses as the General inspected the sandwich.
As Eve stepped inside, she looked back at the General's assistant. He looked like Simmons. How was that possible?
Adam closed the door and aimed Eve towards a pair of elevators in the atrium.
"I said hold the mayo!" screamed the General as his voice carried from outside. A pair of gunshots quickly followed, along with faint sobs and a THUD as the Simmons lookalike thumped onto the ground outside.
She had to focus on the mission. She had to get that formula.
"Go ahead. It’s the bottom one," instructed Adam, pointing to the elevator buttons.
Eve froze. The buttons, the wall paneling, she'd been in this elevator before!
In the distant future this was Agent D's base! He was clearly operating out of Base Atom, or what was left of it after it was decimated in 1958. Perhaps this elevator would take her to more than the formula. Perhaps it would take her to answers about D's organization. About Simmons, Pete, herself, and all of the Agents.
She pushed the button for answers… Button 58.
7
Tipping the Scales
The elevator opened to a long gray hallway of doors. Adam stopped Eve in front of the first door and took her hands into his.
"Eve, a man's laboratory is a gateway into his soul. Step into my madness, my genius. Behold the deepest recesses of my mind!"
The door swung open revealing an empty closet.
"Exactly as I pictured your mind," smirked Eve.
Adam stared at the room for a moment, then leaned back to look at th
e hall.
"Ah," he exclaimed with some epiphany, then spun Eve to face the door across from the closet on the other side of the hall.
"Rights and lefts, never my strong suit," Adam began. "This is my lab..."
As Eve stepped into the room, she was met by dozens of cages with lab animals, each one seemingly cross bred with alligators. There were guinea pigs with alligator legs, a rabbit with a lizard tail and an alligator with spider legs.
She stopped at another cage. All the others matched the theme but one, an alligator in overalls.
"Why is he wearing overalls?" asked Eve.
Atom Town Book 2: Hands of the Swamp! Page 2